Curle admits he felt 'fraudulent' and was 'very emotional' when releasing Cobblers players

Manager Keith Curle admits he felt 'fraudulent' when telling some of his Cobblers players that their contracts would not be renewed this summer - despite gaining promotion together only last week.

Jordan Turnbull, a mainstay of Town's back three this season, and Alan McCormack, key to play-off wins over Cheltenham and Exeter, were the headline departures as Cobblers let 13 players go after their contracts expired at the end of last month.

David Cornell, Paul Anderson and Andy Williams also made important contributions during the club's promotion-winning campaign but they have now left the club, along with Reece Hall-Johnson and Billy Waters, plus youngsters Camron McWilliams, Ryan Hughes, Jay Williams, Sean Whaler, Bradley Lashley and Jack Newell.

Letting players go is one of the cruel realities of football, and Curle admits there were some emotional conversations, particularly as the Cobblers had won promotion at Wembley just three days earlier.

"It's something I've always done and I think it's right and proper not to have negotiations regarding contracts with anybody at the football club until the last game of the season," he said.

"You owe it to the players and to the club to make those decisions and inform the players as soon as possible to give the ones you're not retaining the best opportunity and the most amount of time to get themselves fixed up.

"As a manager, it's a very emotional time. You do feel you're letting people down because you've spent a period of time with those players and there's an emotional involvement and an attachment.

"You feel a little bit fraudulent because you've got them to buy into you and you've got them to buy into the plan of what you're doing and then you achieve the plan, but you say that your journey must continue elsewhere now."

While releasing players is a difficult part of any manager's job, it's especially tough for Curle due to the close bond he likes to form with his players.

"There's an emotional attachment with how we work because as staff, not only myself, we get up close and personal with the players and we put demands on them," he added.

"To put demands on people, you've got to get to know them and find out what makes them tick. I've got to say though, the players have been a credit to their profession, a credit to this football club and a credit to us because they've bought into it.

"They've understood the demands we've put on them and some of the guidelines we've had for them and hopefully it's been for their benefit because with what they've learned and developed here, they're able to take elsewhere on their journey.

"But it's never an easy conversation to have because these are players that I genuinely like."